Railway draft appliance



W. J. REGAN.

RAILWAY DRAFT APPLIANCE.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 27. 1919.

Patented Dec. 14, 1.923%,

UNlTED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM J. REGAN, 0F PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR TO THE MGCONWAY & TORLEY COMPANY, OF PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA,

PENNSYLVANIA.

A CORPORATION OF RAILWAY DRAFT APPLIANCE.

Application filed June 27,

To all whom it may conce n Be it known that I, WILLIAM J. REGAN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Pittsburgh, in the county Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway Draft Appliances; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, andv exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

ll y invention relates to the construction of draft appliances for railway vehicles and is especially directed to the production of a simple, strong and eificient draft rigging in which the car coupler and draft yoke or equivalent member are pivotally connected to allow the coupler to swing laterally when the railway vehicle is passing around a curve.

Generally stated the invention consists in casting the coupler in connected relation to the yoke, whereby these members are movably but inseparately united, the construction being such that the coupler and yoke are capable of relative movement longitudinally, and the rear end of the coupler being adapted to engage the follower or forward end of the cushioning unit mounted in the yoke.

In the drawings illustrating the preferred form of my invention, the scope whereof is pointed out in the claims,

Figure 1 is a plan view embodying my invention, thehead portion of the car coupler and the well known cushioning unit that is mounted between the yoke arms being omitted.

Fig. 2 is a view in which the forward portion of the device is shown in horizontal section while the rear portion of the yoke is in plan.

Fig. 3 is a view, partly in side elevation and partly in vertical central. section, of the construction illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, the cushioning device that is interposed between the followers being indicated diagrammatically.

Fig. 4 is a detail elevational View of the forward end of the yoke.

Fig. 5 is a detail vertical section of the forward end of the yoke.

In the drawings, 1 indicates the coupler and 2 is the draft yoke or member to which the coupler is connected. The forward end of a draft rigging Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 14, 1920.

1919. Serial No. 307,072.

or head of the coupler (not shown) may be of any usual or desired construction. rear end or butt of the coupler is integrally provided with oppositely extending projections 3 which preferably are formed as axially alined cylindrical trunnions.

The draft yoke 2 with which the coupler l is connected is preferably fashioned with parallel arms 4 adapted to receive between them front and rear followers, 5 and 6 respectively, that engage the opposite ends of the usual spring or other well known cushioning device (illustrated diagrammatically in Fig.3 at A by a rectangle with its diag onals in dot-anddash lines.) The rear ends of the yoke arms 4 are rigidly united by a tie bar or wall. 7 while the forward ends of said arms are integrally united by walls 8 which are spaced from each other sufficiently to receive the coupler 1. The walls 8 preferably diverge forwardly to constitute with the adjacent portions of the arms 4 a hood of flaring form permitting the coupler to have the desired range of swinging movement with respect to the yoke 52 in any posi tion of buffing as well as in draft.

At its forward end the yoke is integrally provided with shoulders or looking lugs 9 extending toward the shank of the coupler 1 and projecting in front of the projections orv trunnions 3 on the butt of the coupler. These lugs 9, whose inner faces 10 are preferably curved to conform to the curvature of the trunnions 3, are adapted to engage the respective trunnions and thereby inseparably connect the coupler and yoke.

The follower 5 is preferably provided on its forward face with a projection 11 which is curved to form a socket or hearing for the rear sides of the trunnions 3. This construction permits looseness or slack due to wear on the trunnions and contacting parts of the yoke to be readily taken up by the successive substitution, as occasion may require, of followers 5 having socket projections 11 of suitably increased extension. The follower 5 initially assembled in the mechanism preferably has a socket projection 11 of greater length than the total travel of the coupler in either direction from its normal position, thus preventing complete withdrawal of the socket projection from between the side walls 8 of the yoke and thereby insuring the maintenance of the proper cooperative relation of the fol- The lower 5 to the coupler 1 and yoke 2 under all circumstances.

In manufacturing the device the coupler l. and yoke 2 are movably but inseparably connected by casting these members in interlinked relation, the yoke preferably being first cast and properly cleaned and placed in the mold in which the coupler is cast, and the coupler being thereafter cast in conjoined relation to the yoke. The followers 5 and 6 are cast separately and subsequently placed in assembled relation to the yoke and coupler. The construction of the yoke is such that the rear end or trunnion portion of the "coupler may be cast in a core or baked mold locating the rear end or trunnion portion of the coupler well back in the open space of the yoke in spaced relation to the bearing faces 10 of the shoulders or locking lugs 9 at the forward end of the yoke, thus providing for a sand contact for practically the entire surface of the coupler. After the coupler l is poured the sand is removed and the coupler is moved forward inthe yoke to normal position, as shown in the drawings. The followers 5 and 6 together with the spring or other preferred or usual cushioning device A may then be placed in position between the arms 4 of the yoke, thereby completing the assembly of the draft rigglng.

In addition to the advantages already referred'to, my invention, while affording an efficient inseparable connection allowing the coupler 1 to move relatively to the yoke 2, permits of the easy inspection of the trun-- nions 3 and adjacent rear portion of the coupler after the latter has been cast, thus providing for the detection of a mis-run or otherwise objectionable coupler casting. A further advantage of the invention is that-in the event of the breakage of either the coupler or the yoke the broken member can be readily removed without injuring the unbroken member and a new part can be cast in connected relation to the unbroken member, said nevi part being cast within or around the unbroken part, as the case may be.

I claim 2- 1. A railway draft appliance, comprised of a cast metal coupler member having its butt provided with oppositely extending projections, and a cast metal integral yoke member having inwardly extending shoulders at its forward end, the said members being assembled by casting the projections of the coupler member within the yoke back of and spaced from the shoulders of the yoke, whereby the coupler member and yoke members are inseparably connected and rendered relatively movable longitudinally to permit the inspection and cleaning of the coacting portions of said members.

2. A railway draft appliance comprising a cast metal integral yoke member having curved shoulders at its forward end, and a cast metal. coupler member having oppositely extending trunnions integral therewith, said members being capable of relative pivotal and longitudinal movement, and said members being assembled by casting the coupler with its oppositely extending trunnions-within the arms of the yoke back of and spaced from the shoulders thereof, whereby the yoke and coupler are inseparably and movably connected and the trun nions of the coupler member may be inspected and cleaned.

3. A railway draft appliance comprising a cast metal coupler member having at its butt end oppositely extending trunnions, a cast metal integral yoke having a hooded portion provided at "its forward end with wardly projecting shoulders, said members being capable of relative pivotal and longitudinal movement, and said members being assembled and inseparably connected by casting the coupler member with its oppositely extending trunnions within the yoke back of and spaced from the shoulders at the forward end of the yoke, in combination with a follower having on one face a socket projection normally extending into said hooded portion of said yoke for a greater length than the relative longitudinal movement of the coupler and yoke members.

4. In a railway draft appliance, the combination with a cast metal yoke having a hooded forward end and inwardly projecting shoulders, of a cast metal coupler movably connected thereto, said coupler having oppositely extending trunnions, and cushioning means within the yoke, said means involving a follower having on its forward face a projecting curved bearing adapted to enter the hood of the yoke and to engage the rear end of said coupler, said projecting bearing being of greater length than the relative movement of said coupler and yoke and normally extending into said hood a distance greater than the extent of said relative movement.

5. In a railway draft appliance, the combination of a hooded yoke member having inwardly projecting bearing shoulders at its forward end, a couplermember having oppositely extending projections at its butt, said members being relatively movable longitudinally, and a follower member having on its forward face a projection adapted to enter the hooded forward end of the yoke for a distance exceeding the extent of relative movement of said coupler and yoke members.

6. The method herein described for combining and inseparably connecting the cast metal coupler member and the cast metal yoke member of a railway draft appliance, which consists in first casting an integral yoke member having inwardy projecting bearing shoulders at its forward end, and thereafter casting a coupler member having oppositely extending projections in such relation to said yoke member that said oppositely extendingprojections of the coupler member shall, when cast, be located back of and spaced from the shoulders at the for-- ward end of the yoke and the stem of the coupler member shall project between the shoulders of the yoke.

7. In a railway draft appliance, the combination with a yoke having a hooded forward end, of a coupler operatively connected to said yoke, said yoke and coupler being relatively movable longitudinally, and a follower member having on its forward face a projection adapted to extend into the said hooded forward end of the yoke a distance not less than the extent of relative 20- movement of said yoke and coupler.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

WILLIAM J. REGAN. 

